Deployment analysis of carrier grade urban wireless mesh networks

An optimized and cost-effective wireless mesh network (WMN) deployment for ubiquitous broadband wireless access is known to be highly dependent on a number of key factors such as backhaul solution, number of radio interfaces per node, type of radio technology, network topology/cluster, etc. The choice of network topology in turn affects the gateway-node ratio, and also the placement of gateways (GW)s and access points (AP)s. In this paper, we provide insights on the best possible upper-bound performance and inter-relationship between these key design factors under different operating conditions with respect to different target data rates per user. Next, we incorporate deployment cost analysis into the corresponding design option studies in order to provide more accurate justification on the feasibility of adopting different clustering techniques. The results from our analysis offer a general guideline or reference for network operators who intend to deploy a uniform blanket coverage using WMN especially in the urban environment.